This is another book about software as a craft but written in a style that’s much more interesting and accessible. Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt have a lot of experience in the field and it shows.

Most of the advice given is pretty obvious but every programmer should remind himself now and them of what’s important to his programming career. This book does exactly that.

Most of the advice provided in the book is in those areas where programmers have more trouble–like communication and dealing with managers. That’s very necessary, considering how much more integrated progamming has become today, and more so in Agile contexts where outside interaction is paramount. But there is also a lot of practical advice about the best way to prototype, how to handle the problem domain in terms of languages choice and lots of similar subjects.

Also, reading this book reminds me again of how bad Software Craftsmanship was. McBreen really sounds like he read this book, had a couple of nice insights and decided to write an entire book on what should have been an article or an essay.

Of course, two of the most interesting parts of the books are the challenges and exercises. The challenges are questions about the text just read, leading the reader to expand his comprehension and think about the way what has been just learned applies to his work. The exercises, on the other hand, are more about practicing the knowledge in code. Both are good tools to make sure the knowledge acquired in fixed into the reader’s memory.

Of course, the book is not without flaws although many of them may be attributed to the time in which it was written. For example, there is a tendency in the text to present Java and its related technologies as leading the way to the future. But those are small problems in a otherwise great book.

The ending was a little slow, as well, in face of everything that was already said but I would encourage readers to stick with the book. Even in the slow chapters there a lot of food for thought.

All in all, this is a practical and current book that will benefit every programmer reading it. Even programmers with a lot of experience will learn something or at least be reminded of things they should be doing and may not be doing right now. I strongly recommend it.

Exactly. Many times while reading the book I caught myself thinking: “But this is so obvious. Why would anyone not do that”. Than I realized that I was not doing that in some project or other. It’s a good reminder to always keep things going up in terms of quality.